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Christopher Mance II is trying to get entrepreneurs to build power connections and work together to market together and give them a chance to get their products and services to go viral.  Nichevertising is attempting to use relationship marketing as a way to manufacture viral marketing by bringing businesses together to reach out to consumers.

Christopher Mance II is the owner of Nichevertising.  Nichevertising is a product designed for entrepreneurs from all walks of life looking to get their mobile apps, books, music videos, websites, products and events to go viral.

Christopher has been involved with the Internet since 1996 when he was attending the United States Military Academy at West Point.  All freshman were given access to the Internet and while Chris attended the school he tried to build online websites.

The first website Chris built was devoted to hip-hop music.  The website he built was a hub for news about the artists Christopher was in to, like the Wu Tang Clan and Nos.  He saw himself as a curator of content and got the news from the hip hop community and people began visiting his website in more and more numbers.

Christopher tried to run many different businesses, but they were always part-time businesses.  Looking back, Christopher saw himself saw himself as more of a wantrepreneur than an entrepreneur, which helped make him decide to become an entrepreneur full-time.

In 2011, Christopher came up with the idea of trying to bring people together to help them advertise their business.  With the goal being that people could then bid on projects in order to make those businesses develop strong viral marketing campaigns. But, he decided to shift the direction to what it is today . . . nichevertising.

The concept being that Christopher is trying to connect businesses with the same demographics so they can collaborate together to help each other and each others campaigns go viral.  Multiple businesses can join a campaign together and help each other go viral.

Christopher and his wife have been business partners since they began dating.  At first, they had an online magazine that they used to sell advertising with.  The only way they could have an online magazine back in 2003 was that they had to be a coder and both Christopher and his wife were coders which meant they experienced a lot of success prior to 2006.  In 2006, blogging became a much more mainstream activity and they had lost their competitive advantage.  Many of the blogs began to reach out to Christopher and his wife to see if they could promote their blog . . . which is how the idea for Nichevertising began.

Christopher began thinking of ways that he could automate the process of connecting and collaborating businesses and blogs.  Right now they are working in a closed beta test and are slowly getting the kinks worked out, but very soon it will be an open marketplace for businesses to connect with other businesses.

In order to sign up for Nichevertising, first you have to visit their website and sign up, then self select yourself into a niche, create your marketing campaign and then connect with a who’s who of entrepreneurs who are looking for partners as well.  Looking at their database and campaigns to determine who is a good match for you and it’s up to the business if they want to accept the partnership you’re offering.

One campaign is composed of five different businesses coming together and it’s about creating a scale of partnerships.  Going viral is not the same for you as it is for say, Time Warner.  For a young entrepreneur, viral marketing is not the same as it would be for those large organizations.  Your goal as an entrepreneur is not to get a million views, but it should be your goal to bring people into your world so they will refer you.

The biggest mistake Christopher says he’s made is thinking that he could be a successful entrepreneur while he was working for somebody else.  He thought he would be able to start online businesses and make enough of an income to replace his income from his full-time job.  Christopher wishes he would have started right away building his lifestyle around being an entrepreneur.

The people who created the Harlem Shake video were people who were very passionate about dancing and the reason for its ultimate success was that they were passionate about the project.  The original Harlem Shake people were constantly making videos and eventually their Harlem Shake video went big, but it’s because they had a built in audience from their other videos.  When you get to the point where you are good at what you’re passionate about then and only then will you have developed a great viral marketing opportunity.

Hubspot is a great example of a company that went viral. They created the concept of inbound marketing and an entire industry has now sprouted up around the idea of inbound marketing. Hubspot managed to go viral though by creating great content day in and day out.  All entrepreneurs should think of how they can go viral like Hubspot went viral. There are loads of companies that offer inbound marketing advice now though, you can learn more here if this is something that interests you.

Engaging Discussion Questions:

• What do you think it takes to make something go viral?
• What do you think about relationship marketing?
• What do you think about viral marketing?

Links to Great Stuff:

• Niche.fm – We fast-track the process of “going viral” by: providing a secure web-based software application for entrepreneurs like you to join a cooperative advertising network; providing a way for you to double, triple and even 10x the reach of your campaigns; and vastly increasing the likelihood that your campaigns goes viral!!!
• HubSpot – “HubSpot all-in-one marketing software helps more than 8,000 companies in 56 countries attract leads and convert them into customers. A pioneer in inbound marketing, HubSpot aims to help its customers make marketing that people actually love
• Sunny Coast Skate – Creators of the Harlem Shake.”
• West Point – “The United States Military Academy has been educating, training, and inspiring leaders of character for our United States Army and for the nation for more than
  200 years. West Point provides a 47-month leader-development program steeped in
  academic rigor, military discipline, and physical challenges, all built upon a
  moral-ethical foundation. The academy is an internationally recognized
  institution for academic, military and physical excellence, and we are proud
  that today’s cadets will become tomorrow’s military, public and private-sector
  leaders.”

Success Quotes:

• “Success is not defined by credentials.  It’s really defined by your mental health, physical health and the relationship you have with your family.”
• “Focus on your authenticity and not try to fake it.”
• “If you are not passionate about cats then do not try to create a viral cat video.”
• “If you create great content or have great customer service and you get great referrals you’ll continually go viral.”
• “Nichevertising is a simple idea of a business finding a partner, getting a partnership connected and getting a campaign out in the world.”

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